~ Learning to sew on Dad's Singer under Mom's guidance

Tag Archives: skirt

Following the party dress and blouse, I took a month-long sewing hiatus. Instead of revisiting my trustworthy patterns (Sewaholic’s Alma and Renfrew or Colette’s Laurel), Mom thought I should try out another Simplicity Amazing Fit, such as the 1652. That’s right, the one I talked about last time in Skirting the Issue with Gathers.

Couple days after stashing the dress into the garment bag, Mom texted me this…

'Bought the skirt pattern, will let you choose the cloth'

Guess she knew how frustrated I was with the last UFO and went to find something that works. So when I got home, she showed me her pattern haul…Sewaholic’s Hollyburn Skirt. Thanks Mom!! I couldn’t wait to start on this pattern, but dinner comes first.Continue reading →

After making the party dress, it was the time to start a new project. But instead of going back to a tried-and-true pattern, I wanted to do some problem solving. Why not go tackle a problem and find a solution that is beneficial in the long run.

My concern is finding a skirt style that suits me. So far, the ‘Gathered Skirt‘ does not work on me.

There is an extreme shortage of skirts in my closet. The last skirt purchased was during my 2010 trip to Japan.

Purchased at Honey’s, a Japan clothing retailer for ¥1000 (~$12CAD). The skirt was a gathered beige, mini flower print layered skirt with an elastic waist. All was fine until I gained some weight around my waist… Anything gathered or elastcized around the waist became unflattering.

When my order of Sewaholic’s Crescent Skirt pattern arrived, I knew view B was for me. To my surprise, I made 2 versions in 2 weeks. Tasia wrote a sew-along of the Crescent skirt on her blog. It was extremely helpful and there are lots of techniques to learn. This project followed 100% of the sew-along. No shortcuts used, I followed everything.

Upcycled Striped Brown Crescent

Keen on making a wearable muslim, Mom gave me her old bedsheet to upcycle. The bedsheet had some wear and tear but the areas around the edge was like new. Brown with some hidden vertical stripes, I could see the potential in this project.

Sewaholic uses the same size chart in their patterns. A size 8 dress is the same as a size 8 skirt or top. I’m a size 8 bust and size 10 waist/hips. So I traced out the size 10 pattern for the skirt.

This project taught me how to:

Sew slash pockets

Reinforce pockets with selvedge

Reinforce waistband with stay tape

Sew french seams on pocket bottom and side seams

Pin stray gathering threads to keep it from unraveling

Create a zipper overlap with the facing

Ditch stitching between the front waistband and skirt

The finished skirt fits slightly below waist. I might make a size 8 in the future. Since both waistband and facing are interfaced, the structure is held up nicely. But be aware of he bulk it causes, especially around the zipper area.

Grey with black outlined green pink blue flowers Crescent Skirt

Don’t know how Mom talked me into finishing this skirt in one night. There is a LOT of work when you consider all the seam finishings. Good thing 2nd time around is much quicker. This time I made some changes:

Took out 2″ from both back pieces to reduce the gathers around the bum

Exposed pink zipper om center back

Focused gathers more in the center front

This skirt is super cute! *squeel* The paneled waistband actually made the print more interesting. I feared there might be too much splice and dice on the flowers but the results makes it more defined.

I’m eager to make a 3rd version in view A with piping on the waistband. Should really start a notebook with my plans.